I thought it would be good to show Ben some of my site specific work in situ, so am meeting him on Saturday at the Bargehouse in London. It’s an amazing space, a ‘derelict’ warehouse that I’m sure he’ll like, plus it will give him an idea of how I work in non-gallery spaces. Seeing aesthetically beautiful work in less than glamorous surroundings has always captured my attention and imagination.

First meeting with Ben, I was very excited by the unknown but also a little nervous, could my non-scientific brain get to grips, even a little bit, with particle physics? I needn’t have worried, Ben’s enthusiasm and passion for his subject shone through and I was hooked straight away! He introduced me to particle detectors; the physical locations where experiments and research occur.

One in Japan, called Super-Kamiokande, is amazing, a visual feast for the eye; I was captivated. It’s a huge underground cylindrical drum and the walls are lined with glass domes which are hand blown by men in the mountains of Japan where the air is cleanest. The men also refrain from smoking and drinking alcohol, to ensure their breath is pure. All I wanted to do when I left was to find an underground lake and silently row across it, floating clear glass balls on the surface behind me. My preconception that particle physics might be a tad dry and abstract was shattered, replaced by the promise of poetry and rich sensory experiences – can hardly wait!

Booking info

Information about booking to visit the installation and In Conversation events.

Covariance Brochure

Read about Covariance and find out more about the physics behind the artwork in the official brochure[PDF].

About

Superposition is a new artist-in-residence programme from the Institute of Physics which invites visual artists and physicists to work collaboratively to explore and contribute to the field of contemporary art.

This project blog allows you to follow artist Lyndall Phelps and physicist Ben Still as they work together to question and interpret current research in particle physics – resulting in the creation of a new artwork.